Virtually anyone can take a glance daughters of avignon You recognize it as Picasso, even if you’ve never seen it and can’t say anything else about it. That alone at least goes some way to explaining why this painting came to be ranked as one of the most important works of art of the 20th century. Research by University of Chicago economist David W. Galenson. In that title it surpassed works such as Robert Smithson. spiral pierRichard Hamilton’s What makes today’s homes so appealing?Marcel Duchamp’s fountain and Nude descending the stairs part 2and Picasso’s own Guernica.
and daughters of avignonGalenson said, “The greatest artist of this century started the most important artistic movement of this century. demoiselle Although it should be considered a Cubist painting, it is very different from all previous art, and there is no doubt that it marked the beginning of the development of Cubism. ”
Painted as an ambitious response to Henri Matisse Le Bonheur de VivreThe rejection of traditional form and beauty shocked even Picasso’s progressive colleagues. “Not only did Matisse denounce the painting as an attempt to discredit modern art, but even Georges Braque, who would later collaborate with Picasso to develop Cubism, was initially so shocked by the painting that he compared Picasso to the fire-eaters at the fairground who drink kerosene and spit out flames.”
Of course, there was also the issue of the painting’s subjects: five naked prostitutes in a Barcelona brothel. But as Beth Harris and Steven Zucker explain: Smarthistory video on, demoiselle It wasn’t necessarily just Moiselle’s problem. “In the original sketches, the women were focused on the men depicted, the sailors,” Zucker says. “There were medical students, too.” At one stage, the latter carries a human skull, a professional tool but also “a memento mori, a reminder of death. So there seems to be a certain tension between the sensuality that the sailors indulge in and the didactic reminder that the pleasures of life are short.” This is an unusual perspective for a 26-year-old to express, but Picasso was no ordinary artist at the time.
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Based in Seoul, Colin Mbemust write and broadcastIt’s about cities, languages and cultures. His projects include the Substack newsletter books about cities and a book Stateless City: A Stroll Through Los Angeles in the 21st Century. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter. @Colinbemust.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
